Raoul Adolphe Péret was a French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

  lawyer and politician.

Biography

Raoul Péret was born in Châtellerault

Châtellerault

Châtellerault is a commune in the Vienne department in the Poitou-Charentes region in France.It is located to the north of Poitou, and the residents are called Châtelleraudais.-Geography:...

 (Vienne

Vienne

Vienne is the northernmost département of the Poitou-Charentes region of France, named after the river Vienne.- Viennese history :Vienne is one of the original 83 departments, established on March 4, 1790 during the French Revolution. It was created from parts of the former provinces of Poitou,...

), son of a magistrate. He followed his father into the law, becoming an advocate

Advocate

An advocate is a term for a professional lawyer used in several different legal systems. These include Scotland, South Africa, India, Scandinavian jurisdictions, Israel, and the British Crown dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man...

 at the Court of Cassation

Court of Cassation (France)

The French Supreme Court of Judicature is France's court of last resort having jurisdiction over all matters triable in the judicial stream but only scope of review to determine a miscarriage of justice or certify a question of law based solely on points of law...

 in Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

. In 1893 he served as an aide to Justice Minister

Minister of Justice (France)

The Ministry of Justice is controlled by the French Minister of Justice , a top-level cabinet position in the French government. The current Minister of Justice is Michel Mercier...

 Eugène Guérin. He became a Doctor of Laws in 1895 and served as procurator of Auxerre

Auxerre

Auxerre is a commune in the Bourgogne region in north-central France, between Paris and Dijon. It is the capital of the Yonne department.Auxerre's population today is about 45,000...

.

He was involved in local politics from 1896, and in 1902 he was elected to the Chamber of Deputies

Chamber of Deputies of France

Chamber of Deputies was the name given to several parliamentary bodies in France in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries:* 1814–1848 during the Bourbon Restoration and the July Monarchy, the Chamber of Deputies was the Lower chamber of the French Parliament, elected by census suffrage.*...

, representing Vienne. He became a leading member of Chamber's Justice committee, and was reelected in 1907 and 1910. He first served in government in Gaston Doumergue

Gaston Doumergue

Pierre-Paul-Henri-Gaston Doumergue was a French politician of the Third Republic.Doumergue came from a Protestant family. Beginning as a Radical, he turned more towards the political right in his old age. He served as Prime Minister from 9 December 1913 to 2 June 1914...

's first administration (1913–1914) as secretary of state to Interior Minister

Minister of the Interior (France)

The Minister of the Interior in France is one of the most important governmental cabinet positions, responsible for the following:* The general interior security of the country, with respect to criminal acts or natural catastrophes...

 René Renoult

René Renoult

René Renoult was a French Minister and lawyer.Renoult is the son of Étienne and Élisa Geranger, a female day laborer. He studied at the Faculty of Law in Paris and obtained his doctorate in 1888...

. In the reshuffle following the resignation of Joseph Caillaux

Joseph Caillaux

Joseph-Marie–Auguste Caillaux was a major French politician of the Third Republic. The leader of the Radicals, he favored a policy of conciliation with Germany during his premiership from 1911 to 1912, which led to the maintenance of the peace during the Second Moroccan Crisis of 1911...

, Péret became Minister of Commerce on 17 March 1914.

On the outbreak of the First World War, Péret was recalled to the French army

French Army

The French Army, officially the Armée de Terre , is the land-based and largest component of the French Armed Forces.As of 2010, the army employs 123,100 regulars, 18,350 part-time reservists and 7,700 Legionnaires. All soldiers are professionals, following the suspension of conscription, voted in...

. He served in administrative posts, but remained active in the Chamber of Deputies. In 1917 he served as Justice Minister in Paul Painlevé

Paul Painlevé

Paul Painlevé was a French mathematician and politician. He served twice as Prime Minister of the Third Republic: 12 September – 13 November 1917 and 17 April – 22 November 1925.-Early life:Painlevé was born in Paris....

's short-lived first government. On its fall, he returned to the Chamber where he took over the presidency of the important budget committee. He had earlier written a book on government financial reform, Comment la France peut-elle devenir une grande puissance économique (1916).

In 1920 he replaced Paul Deschanel

Paul Deschanel

Paul Eugène Louis Deschanel was a French statesman. He served as President of France from 18 February 1920 to 21 September 1920.-Biography:...

 as President of the Chamber of Deputies when the latter resigned due to ill-health. In 1921 he was asked to form a government by President Alexandre Millerand

Alexandre Millerand

Alexandre Millerand was a French socialist politician. He was President of France from 23 September 1920 to 11 June 1924 and Prime Minister of France 20 January to 23 September 1920...

 to replace that of Georges Leygues

Georges Leygues

Georges Leygues was a French politician of the Third Republic. During his time as Minister of Marine he worked with the navy's chief of staff Henri Salaun in unsuccessful attempts to gain naval re-armament priority for government funding over army rearmament such as the Maginot Line.He was born...

, but his negotiations were unsuccessful and Aristide Briand

Aristide Briand

Aristide Briand was a French statesman who served eleven terms as Prime Minister of France during the French Third Republic and received the 1926 Nobel Peace Prize.- Early life :...

 formed the new government. In 1924 he was replaced as President of the Chamber by Painlevé.

Péret returned to ministerial office in 1926, as Minister of Finance in Briand's eighth government. He wished to undertake major financial reforms to meet the growing economic crisis in France, but was unable to find support from his colleagues. His resignation provoked the collapse of Briand's government.

In 1927 Péret was elected to the French Senate

French Senate

The Senate is the upper house of the Parliament of France, presided over by a president.The Senate enjoys less prominence than the lower house, the directly elected National Assembly; debates in the Senate tend to be less tense and generally enjoy less media coverage.-History:France's first...

. In 1930 he returned to government once more as Minister of Justice on André Tardieu

André Tardieu

André Pierre Gabriel Amédée Tardieu was three times Prime Minister of France and a dominant figure of French political life in 1929-1932.-Biography:...

's second government. A financial scandal in late 1930 concerning his actions as Minister of Finance under Briand led to his resignation, and that of Tardieu's government. Péret was charged, but acquitted in 1931. Although he continued to serve in the Senate for some years afterwards, the scandal effectively ended his political career.

He died at Saint-Mandé

Saint-Mandé

Saint-Mandé is a commune of the Val-de-Marne department in Île-de-France in the eastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris. It is one of the most densely populated municipalities in Europe.-History:...

in 1942.